WILLIAMSPORT — The U.S. attorney’s office is seeking forfeiture of $110,000 discovered last November during a state police traffic stop on westbound Interstate 80 in eastern Clinton County.

The basis for the forfeiture, according to a document filed Wednesday in U.S. Middle District Court, is the allegation that the currency was intended to be used to facilitate a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

The process is known as forfeiture in rem, in which property is subject to forfeiture due to alleged involvement in criminal activity rather than the owner being directly accused.

Online federal and state court records do not show any criminal charges against the driver, Joseph Louis Ortiz, who was issued a warning for traffic violations.

The $110,000 seized last Nov. 20 from Ortiz is currently in the custody of the marshals’ forfeiture fund, a court filing states.

The following is taken from that document:

Trooper Jeremy Hoy detected an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle he stopped. Ortiz said he and his wife, Nicole Annette Martucci, were on their way to Glendale, Ariz., to spend Thanksgiving with family and then planned to go to California.

He claimed he was trying to go to a dispensary only to realize he would need a medical marijuana card to make a purchase in Pennsylvania.

Martucci, who confirmed the travel plans, produced a bag of marijuana from the passenger side floor. Neither she nor Ortiz objected to a search of the SUV.

Discovered during the search were a box containing approximately 30 fentanyl drug tests and a backpack in which there were two bundles of U.S. currency. One bundle had multiple denominations, while the other appeared to be $1 bills.

A large vacuum-sealed package of rubber-banded U.S. currency was found behind a loose panel under the steering wheel.

Hoy drove Ortiz, and his wife followed in the SUV, to the Lamar state police barracks. Ortiz, after being read his Miranda rights, admitted the money was his and that he earned it as a union worker, breeding dogs and as a part-owner of a body shop.

He said he earned about $120,000 a year, but he did not report money earned from breeding dogs.

Ortiz explained he had the money with him in case he purchased a house in Arizona because he and his wife planned to move there in a year or two. His wife knew only of $10,000, he said.

Martucci said she did not know how much money was there, to whom it belonged and did not see her husband put it into the SUV. They were looking to invest in real estate or buy Section 8 rental units in Arizona, she said.

A drug dog had positive hits on the currency, and an ion scan indicated a high presence for narcotics, specifically cocaine.